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Curbs in Telangana town after stir over Shivaji statue
The police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbing of tear gas shells on the two groups indulging in stone pelting at each other. A constable was injured in the attack, Nizamabad police commissioner K R Nagaraju told reporters.
Tension prevailed in Bodhan town of Telangana’s Nizamabad district on Sunday afternoon, following clashes between two groups over installation of Chatrapati Shivaji statue in the heart of the town.
The police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbing of tear gas shells on the two groups indulging in stone pelting at each other. A constable was injured in the attack, Nizamabad police commissioner K R Nagaraju told reporters.
According to the police commissioner, some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders installed the statue of Shivaji at Ambedkar Circle in Bodhan town in the early hours of Sunday. “The BJP leaders claimed that a resolution to this effect was adopted in the Bodhan municipality recently. However, no permissions were granted for the installation of the statue yet,” he said.
Nagaraju said the BJP leaders had not followed proper procedure for the statue installation. “The proposal has to be routed to the district collector through local revenue divisional officer and the collector, in turn, would write to the municipal administration department for the approval,” he clarified.
The overnight installation of the Shivaji statue led to protests from the activists of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and a large number of the party activists gathered on the streets raising slogans against the installation of the statue. The activists of the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised counter slogans, resulting in a tense situation.
With the situation turning serious, the police forces swung into action. Additional police forces from Nizamabad rushed to Bodhan to bring the situation under control by dispersing the warring mobs.
“We have made some preventive arrests and booked cases against the protestors from both the sides. We have imposed restrictions under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code prohibiting assembly of four or more persons in the area. Special police pickets were also posted to prevent any untoward incidents in Bodhan. The situation is now under control,” Nagaraju said.
BJP MP from Nizamabad Dharmapuri Arvind said the statue of Chatrapati Shivaji was installed only after the proposal was approved in the Bodhan municipality. But the AIMIM leaders, supported by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, opposed the statue. They were insisting that if Shivaji statue was installed, the authorities should also allow installation of the statue of Tipu Sultan.
“How can they compare Shivaji, a national hero, with Tipu Sultan, who had butchered the Hindus?” Arvind asked and warned the authorities against shifting the Shivaji statue from the place.
BJP state president Bandi Sanjay also condemned the pelting of stones by a section of people on the BJP workers over installation of Shivaji statue, which the local municipal council had given approval.
